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Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte might not pull in the box-office performance they once commanded, but they still project heavy influence over a generation of women.

According to a poll commissioned by Caron Texas, a substance treatment center set to open next month in the Dallas area, the entertainment-industry images of girlfriends bonding over drinks permeates real life.

DFW's Face of Problem Drinking Is Female

Happy hour with the girls also means North Texas women are more likely to drink too much and reveal too much personal information. (Published Monday, June 14, 2010)

The survey, conducted by The Dallas Marketing Group, polled women between 25- and 59-years-old living in households with average annual incomes of $50,000 or more, in five Dallas-area counties. It showed that the profile of a Dallas-Fort Worth female problem drinker focuses on single women, aged 25-39, out with the girls for a good time.

The hypothetical subject drinks beer or wine rather than hard liquor. She prefers to limit her over indulgence to outings with female friends rather than dates or business socials.

She tends to provide way too much personal information about herself or others when imbibing, she likely drove under the heavy influence at least once in the last five years, and she typically tosses and turns at night while trying to sleep, particularly after a night out on the town.

The disappointing aspect of the survey was that it failed to list the names of the pubs and bars in which these women congregate. The search continues.

Bruce Felps owns and operatesEast Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. He looked, and looked, and looked, but the survey results did not include names and phone numbers.